


Dinner and a Show (or Steve and Danny meet Rachel's Beau)

by Banshi13



Series: Maluhia [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Awkwardness, Developing Relationship, F/M, First Meetings, Humor, M/M, New Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27678137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Banshi13/pseuds/Banshi13
Summary: In which Danny has concerns, Rachel would like for Danny to grow up, Steve just wants to get along with everyone and eat his food, and Rachel's new boyfriend is oddly entertained by it all.
Relationships: Rachel Edwards/Original Male Character(s), Steve McGarrett & Danny "Danno" Williams, Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Series: Maluhia [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1760446
Comments: 39
Kudos: 128





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: In ‘Vacation (All I Ever Wanted)’ (a part of this series which you can read (and please do!), but it isn’t necessarily required to understand the gist of this fic) Rachel talked to Danny and Steve about setting up a dinner to meet her new beau.
> 
> Tada! A few parts humor, some parts reality, and all love. And with the year we have ALL had, we could CERTAINLY use a healthy dosing of humor and love.
> 
>  _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-0 and the characters found within the series are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work. Original characters belong to me and bear no likeness or similarities to any one individual_.

**Hawaii Five-0**

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

"Having dinner?"

"Having din - no, you putz," Although he normally wouldn't hesitate, Danny resisted the urge to reach across the car and slap Steve upside his infuriatingly good looking head, figuring that accosting his partner in work and in life, and, technically, his direct supervisor, might not make the best of first impressions lest they were being watched from the window of his ex-wife's house.

And it was vital, apparently, that he and Steve make a good first impression, or so said Rachel.

For the life of him, Danny couldn't figure out why. 

"I mean having dinner with my ex-wife's boyfriend-slash-possible-future-husband-and-our-possible-overlord," Danny clarified.

"Well, so far we're not having dinner," Steve pointed out slowly, which only served to irritate Danny more. "We're not even out of the car yet."

"I need a minute to get myself in order; can I have a minute, please?!"

Danny felt Steve staring at him, and yes, okay, fine, maybe Danny was overreacting a little bit here, but what else was he supposed to do? His ex-wife wanted him to have dinner with her new boyfriend, who was running for Governor, who, Danny just knew, wanted to pick at him and Steve about information on Five-0 and talk about public safety policy and taxes and probably slide in a request for an endorsement while he was at it, or at the very least an ask for their personal support. And as if all of that wasn't enough-

"Have you told Rachel yet?"

Danny peeked out at Steve from behind his hand. Steve, who Danny had gone on a long weekend vacation with, insisted upon by Danny's wise and beautiful daughter, Grace. Steve, who he'd spent four days with in a rented house on a lava-coal-ridden beach that Steve seemed to delight in.

Steve, who, one night after they'd fallen asleep on the couch, woke up and gave him an accidental kiss which turned into a very purposeful lip lock, followed by breakfast confessions and stolen looks that pretended to be casual but were anything but, and had finally ended with promises made between sweet, swollen mouths and breathless words after a romantic dinner by the sea.

"You haven't yet." Steve gave him a knowing look, and not an angry one either. Not a put-out one, or even disappointed one. Just a knowing look, like he was congratulating himself in his smug head that once again at his clever deduction, that he'd caught Danny out.

"It's not that I don't want to."

"I know."

Danny blinked. "You know?"

"Sure," Steve shrugged, looking at him. "You're scared of your ex-wife. It's okay. I don't blame you."

Danny sputtered for a long few seconds before he managed to contribute actual words to the conversation. "I am not _scared_ of Rachel, okay? Number one, I haven't exactly had a chance to tell her since we got back – it’s only been a week! Number two, I can't just blurt out, 'hey, by the way, I'm now dating my very crazy, very insane, and also very _male_ boss' and not block off the rest of the afternoon for the interrogation she's gonna give me. Number three -"

Danny never got to number three, because his phone decided to buzz at that moment. He looked down and groaned, swiping right and answering with a dejected, “What."

" _Would you two stop stalling in the driveway and get up here? Honestly, Danny, he's not going to bite_."

"I am not worried about him biting me Rachel, okay, I'm armed. If he bites me, I'll just shoot him."

" _Daniel_!"

"Okay, alright, fine… Steve'll shoot him," Danny ignored the long-suffering sigh from the other side of the car. 

" _Danny, if you're not standing on my front porch in the next sixty seconds, I will personally call every bakery on this island, starting with Leonard's and Liliha's, and tell them not to sell you anything for the rest of the year, and that includes the malasadas you so love that they decorate for Christmas_! _And don't think I don't know that they know you on sight - you're second in command of a very visible statewide task force and a regular face at both shops_."

There were times, still to this day, when Danny really, truly, with every fiber of his being, hated his ex-wife, and with their history, it wasn't like he wouldn't be justified if he truly did. "Fine, fine, we're coming," Danny dropped the call along with the phone in his lap and leaned his head back against the rest. "I hate my life."

"Ah, Danno, come on," Steve pushed open the driver's side door and stepped out, knowing that if he got moving, so too would Danny. He walked around to the passenger side where, yes, Danny was edging out of the Camaro. He was moving like a man on his way to his own execution, but there was forward progress at least. That couldn't be denied. "It'll be fine, buddy." Danny felt Steve's hands on his shoulders, grumbling as he was halfway marched by his partner up the drive. Danny didn't bother shrugging him off; in fact, he rather enjoyed the reassuring pressure Steve's hands were giving his tense muscles.

They didn't even have to ring the doorbell. Rachel was there, arms crossed, an annoyingly bewildered look on her face as Danny and Steve approached. Danny stopped just short of the first step and stuck his hands in the pockets of his slacks, looking up at his ex with a 'I'm-Here-Now: Happy?' expression. "Hi."

Rachel rolled her eyes and stepped gracefully aside to enter, though Danny was willing to bet money that he’d seen her leg twitch - likely an urge to kick him – as he slowly ascended the stairs, his feet scuffing on the expensive slate stone beneath. 

“Hello,” she greeted, a barely patient smile tightening her lips. “Come inside, please. You're only about twenty minutes late, it's not as if we've been waiting on you at all."

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay, I had to do a fast dry on my shirt, and Steve broke every traffic law Oahu's got to try to make it here on time, which is why I needed a couple of extra minutes to make sure that if I was going to have a heart attack that it was in the car and not in your foyer." Danny knew he was being an ass and if there was any doubt of that, the unimpressed look on Rachel's face proved it. But just when Danny thought she was going to lay into him, she pivoted and offered a polite, if yet exasperated greeting to Steve.

"Commander, thank you for coming. I know it might seem odd that I requested your being here, but I thought it might smooth the way for the evening a little, make Danny a bit more comfortable with meeting Mark," Rachel paused for the perfect amount of time before casting a withering glare at her ex-husband. "It would seem I was wrong."

Steve jumped in before Danny could shoot back his own retort, and to be honest, Danny was a little bit annoyed at that. "It's no problem, Rachel, really, I'm happy to be here. I know Danny's looking forward to meeting this guy; he's just a little nervous is all."

Rachel cast one more look laced with irritation Danny's way before offering a sweeping gesture ahead with her arm and leading them both further into her house. "Charlie's over at a friend's house," she supplied as she led them through her elegantly furnished living room and towards the kitchen. "I thought it might make things a little easier since we're likely to be discussing a bit of business as well."

Steve's internal alarm pinged, the kind that blared when he sensed political fallout and faction fighting on the horizon that might just affect Five-0’s funding for the next fiscal year. "Uh, Rachel, just how much _business_ is he planning on talking about?"

"Don't worry, Steven; he won't be asking you for an endorsement or a donation or anything like that," Rachel reassured, leading them through the kitchen and towards her lanai where both Steve and Danny could see a man with perfectly combed dirty blonde hair just through the streak-free glass of her windows. "Of course, our conversation may be cut short if Danny has an aneurysm." Danny grumbled as Rachel breezed out the door, he and Steve following behind.

Mark Erickson was everything his name inferred him to be, right down to his perfect, all-American gleaming smile, deep brown eyes, and commanding presence. Danny hung back while Steve introduced himself, rank included, perfectly willing to allow his partner to take the lead for the moment.

"Lieutenant Commander, huh? Navy?" Mark asked.

Steve nodded. "Navy Intelligence and SEALs."

"Ah, nice," Mark released Steve's hand and stuck it in his pocket for the moment. "I thought about going out for SEALs but decided on Special Warfare instead."

"Airforce, alright. I mean," Steve shrugged, "it's not Navy, but it's not Army either, so we're good." And Danny would've been more than happy to watch Steve and Mark continue their All-American-Boy banter, but Rachel had evidently decided that Danny had dragged his feet long enough. As if she were the proverbial cane snatching a too-long performer off stage, she reached behind Steve and yanked Danny out to stand beside him in full view of Mark; Danny barely suppressed a yelp of surprise. "Mark, this is my ex-husband, Danny Williams." It was as if the force of her glare created enough of a gravitational pull for Danny to offer his hand to Mark in greeting, and dammit if the man’s grip wasn’t as sure and confident as the rest of him looked.

"Rachel tells me you're a hell of a detective, Mr. Williams."

Danny lifted a surprised eyebrow at the compliment. "Well uh, she probably knows better than anyone I’m pretty dedicated to my line of work."

"I think that's something all of us here can relate to," Mark stepped back, dropping Danny's hand in favor of placing it at the small of Rachel's back. Danny noticed. Attentive. Attentive was good. Attentive meant invested and aware, attentive showed that he was making Rachel a priority.

When the hell had he decided to critique Rachel’s boyfriend, exactly?

"Why don't the three of you sit down and I'll gather some drinks. I do believe Longboards are the island favorite for ale?" Rachel’s voice broke through the mental review Danny was writing on Mark in his mind as she brushed past him and Steve, and was back in the house before either man could answer. Mark stepped back and motioned with an insistently welcome hand for both of his guests to sit. Danny and Steve took the offered chairs and got comfortable – well, Steve got comfortable. Danny was doing a great impression of a cat walking on wet ground; cautiously settling himself in, as if he was prepared to allow his anxiety to scuttle him away at any second.

"Would you relax?" Steve muttered to him under his breath. Danny merely wrinkled his nose back at him, as if he smelled something odorous. Maybe it was the bullshit Steve Rogers routine from his ex-wife's new boyfriend, or Rachel’s cooking. It could be either, honestly; Rachel had cooked some rank meals when they were married.

"So, Commander McGarrett," Mark settled comfortably in his own chair, one foot propped up on the opposite knee and his hands resting in his lap comfortably, everything about his posture screaming, ‘This is my spot, I belong here’, as if he were some kind if imperious feline and not a grown man. "Rachel tells me you've been running Five-0 for about ten years."

"Yeah, yep, that's right," Steve cleared his throat. "And you may as well call me Steve."

"Mark to you," Mark responded agreeably. "And you too, Danny. I imagine we're going to be seeing more of each other what with everything. You've both been with Five-0 since it started?"

"Uh, yeah, ever since this guy broke into my apartment and dragged me into his own little version of crazy town," Danny crossed his legs, determined now to at least _appear_ at ease with current circumstances, especially since Rachel was coming back onto the lanai, three beers in one hand and a glass of white wine in the other. 

"I've heard some stories that make me think crazy town might be selling you guys short," Mark grinned, taking his beer and offering Rachel a soft 'thank you' as she sat down. Danny noticed, and begrudgingly put another notch in the ‘Maybe he’s not so bad’ column. "Rachel's told me a little bit, but most of what I've heard has been through the news and office gossip," he nodded at Steve, "you know the kind."

Steve grinned and looked over at Danny. “Scuttlebutt,” he explained. Danny rolled his eyes. Military guys and their stupid slang for stupid things.

Rumor and gossip became confirmed stories, because for the next hour or so, Steve and Mark went back and forth on every case it seemed Five-0 had ever been involved in. Even Danny eventually relaxed into his seat, _possibly_ deciding that _perhaps_ this little get together hadn't been such a bad idea of Rachel’s after all, and in fact, might've been one of her better ones. Steve at least genuinely seemed to like the guy, Chair-force affiliation notwithstanding.

So of course, when Danny was starting to genuinely enjoy himself, Rachel stood and asked Steve for his help in bringing out the food. "Uh, I can help with that, Rache," Danny hurriedly placed his hands on the armrests of his own chair, looking to follow her, "you don't want Steve doing that, honestly, he's a klutz."

"Hey!" Steve’s insulted, furrowed brow was never not cute, and Danny made a mental note to sooth his partner’s wounded pride once they’d left. "He'll trip," Danny ignored the offended swat against his stomach from his partner. "The food'll go everywhere, you'll get ants. I know how you feel about ants."

Rachel only offered him a sarcastically sweet smile in return. "I'm sure Steven is perfectly capable of helping me." It was as kind of a dismissal of his offer as Danny was going to get and he sighed his way back into his seat while Steve got out of his, making sure to exaggerate his long, lanky legs as he followed after Rachel, proving he could do so without tripping over himself for anyone who had any doubts.

Which of course, no one did. Least of all Mark, who was eyeing Danny over the lip of his bottle with amusement. Danny cleared his throat, looked across the table, and waited.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-0 and the characters found within the series are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work. Original characters belong to me and bear no likeness or similarities to any one individual_.

**Hawaii Five-0**

"So, Rachel may have mentioned that you might not be too excited about meeting up," Mark offered. Danny saw it for the ice breaker it was. "It's alright, I get it. I've been married and divorced myself. It's the weirdest thing in the world when your ex-wife starts dating again."

"No, no, it's uh, it's fine, you know, it's nothing personal," Danny said, feeling somewhat like a heel because in all honesty, this guy had been pretty great from the moment they'd met, despite Danny’s attitude. "I might not be married to her anymore, but she's the mother of my kids, you know? Just... a little curious, is all."

"And you'll always feel protective towards her, no matter what happened between you two. Like I said, I get it, man," Mark leaned back, the picture of acceptance, which made Danny hate him just a little bit more in a totally unserious way. "She also might've let it slip that you're not wild about politicians."

"Uh... no, no I'm not. They tend to get in the way, always have other agendas, agendas which have made me and Steve's jobs pretty hard in the past. Steve almost took the fall for some of the stuff the first governor we worked for was involved in."

"Governor Jameson," Mark nodded knowingly. "I don't know the details, but I heard it involved some pretty heavy players."

"How'd you hear anything?" Danny asked. "We never released what really happened to the public."

"I was in special forces still, around the time McGarrett got out." Mark's hand gestured towards the house and Danny glanced over his shoulder, seeing Steve and Rachel through the window as they moved around, Rachel handing Steve something and Steve putting it off to the side after a few moments. A surprising warmth filled Danny's chest as he let himself watch them for a few moments; Rachel, who had given as much pain as she had joy, along with Grace and Charlie, and Steve, who never failed to raise the bar on how many hairs he could turn grey on Danny's head, but who also had never given Danny any reason to doubt the love or loyalty Steve had for him.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Danny asked, turning back around.

"Well, you don't get to be a member of some of the most elite military teams in the world and not know each other by reputation, and Steve McGarrett... he had a hell of a reputation," Mark chuckled. "Still does. Anyway," he took a drink from his bottle, "we heard McGarrett had been arrested for Jameson's murder, and all of us knew that was crap. This was a guy who had the tightest bed sheets, who buttered his bread on one side, he'd give you the shirt off his back if you asked for it, even if he was freezing. That's not a guy who assassinates a woman in cold blood. If she was murdered, it was because she either wouldn't do something someone wanted her to do, or she was involved in something she shouldn't have been." 

"Uh-huh," Danny didn't disagree with anything Mark said, and he had to admit, his defense of Steve was chipping away at any edge he’d brought with him to this little get together. "Which one do you think it was?"

"The second one."

"Why?"

"Like I said, McGarrett had a reputation," Mark shrugged. "Plus, we heard chatter that a pretty big thorn in the side of the U.S. government was active in the Pacific Basin, mainly Hawaii, not long after that."

"Somehow I got a pretty good idea of who that might’ve been," Danny muttered as Rachel and Steve slipped back onto the deck, plates in their hands. Rachel set Danny's down and he leaned forward cautiously. "You make this?"

"No, Danny, our personal chef prepared it," Rachel sat down, her eyes practically rolling out of her head and onto the pristine decking below.

"I'm just asking because I see steak on here, and a baked potato, and corn on the cob drenched with butter which you know I absolutely appreciate."

"And yet I hear the tenor of complaint in your voice," Rachel mused. 

"No, no complaint, not at all, it's just you always used to fight me over making this stuff."

"Yes, well, when your doctor would call and leave your cholesterol levels over the voicemail, I'd hear them, and you certainly weren't doing anything to lower them on your own, so." Rachel was the only one out of the four of them who had made herself a salad to go with her own very small steak - painfully, embarrassingly small, if Danny was any judge. He grabbed a fork and stabbed it into his potato. "I was managing it," he grumbled petulantly. Rachel merely crooked an amused eyebrow at him as she chewed at a tomato. "Cheese pizza and daily visits to Sal's was not 'managing' it, Danny."

"Steve, can you - please, tell her, I manage my health, right? Yeah, you remember that day I brought that salad to work, the one that you sniffed out like a bloodhound because you couldn't leave me alone? I manage my health, my cholesterol, I eat right, right?"

"Well, I uh... I can't speak to what you did, how you ate before, you know, in New Jersey, Danny," Steve offered weakly. "But, you know, you're doing good. Now. Today."

"Thank you, Steven, for that rousing endorsement of my diet and nutrition," Danny stabbed his potato again. Rachel smirked. 

"So, uh, Mark," Steve coughed into his hand before picking up his silverware and digging into his steak, "Rachel mentioned you had some questions about Five-0."

"I do, actually, yeah, the usual mission shenanigans notwithstanding," Mark grinned and Steve laughed. "I heard enough stories filter through the teams that we all know what can happen in the field. But operationally - how many people do you have, what are their roles, what do you focus on mainly, what's your budget, how do you function best, stuff like that."

Danny laughed. "How does he function best? Keep his ammo budget nice and healthy, let him chase people across high rise roofs once a week, blow a guy away with a bazooka a couple times a year, that's how he functions best."

"He's exaggerating," Steve resisted the urge to kick Danny under the table and instead focused his energy into answering the questions. "To be honest, I've uh... been on a bit of an extended leave for the past few months. Danny here has been handling the day-to-day operations."

"Injured on the job?" Mark asked, a note of sympathy in his voice as he leaned back while snaking his hand out towards Rachel's to grip gently. Danny found it interesting that Rachel had a somewhat pinched look on her face, and it suddenly occurred to him that Mark had been operating under the assumption that Steve had been reporting to work as if all was normal. He didn't know that Steve had been on leave. He supposed, with Rachel’s tendency to keep things close to the vest, that he should’ve expected that.

"Uh, no, not really, more like I just needed an extended vacation to take care of some personal matters," Steve replied evasively. Mark tilted his head to the side, clearly noticing but choosing not to call Steve on it. "Well, everybody needs a little time away every now and again,” he answered.

Danny saw the response for what it was, and saw the question coming behind it from ten miles away.

"You planning on going back?"

"Well, I have to. Otherwise, Danny will drown me in the ocean," Steve snuck a look Danny's way, and how could Danny not respond to that? He shrugged his shoulders, as if it didn't bother him that Steve had been gone for months, as if having the weight of Five-0 on his shoulders for all this time hadn't worn on him, as if he didn't want to strangle every politician and reporter with his bare hands.

"We talked about that; you come back when you're ready, Steve," Danny said as smoothly as he could with his gut clenched, because discussing this meant that Steve might give him the news that he'd thought it over, and he was enjoying his time away from Five-0 and the flying bullets and traumatic cases too much to want to go back.

Sorry, Danno.

He felt a nudge at his ankle and blinked to see Rachel giving him meaningful looks to pay attention to the continuing conversation happening in front of him.

"....back in about two weeks," Steve was saying. "Might be a little restructuring going on, some slight changes here and there, but it'll be good to get back to work."

"Well, guys like us can only stay out of the fray so long," Mark admitted, and Danny, through his shock at hearing Steve's return-to-work announcement that he himself was only just hearing for the first time, could've sworn he saw a glimmer of regret on Mark's face. But he'd deal with that later. Steve's sudden pronouncement that he'd be coming back to Five-0 was far more important to poke at.

And poke, Danny did. "When did you decide this?"

Steve cleared his throat. "Uh, not long ago. Pretty recently-"

"Pretty recently?" Danny notched one foot on the opposite knee, and leaned back, fingers interlaced together in a picturesque view of a man completely at ease, but which Steve should take as a sign to be cautious. "Okay, because a few days ago, when we were on Kailua, you hadn't said anything about it, you barely even mentioned it. In fact, the last time we talked about it was at your place cleaning out one of your rooms and you said you didn't know when you were coming back."

Rachel chimed in, and Danny didn't need to see the look on her face to hear the amused question in her voice: "You went to Kailua together?"

"Yes, Rachel, we went to Kailua together, I told you we were taking a guys weekend!"

"A boys weekend on Kailua?" Rachel lifted a suspicious eyebrow, and truly, Danny had never wanted to dodge a conversation more than he wanted to dodge the one looming if the look on Rachel's face was any indication. Thankfully, Steve saved him from the acrobatics it would've taken to avoid the line of questioning from his ex-wife Danny knew was coming his way.

"I was going to tell you in the car ride over, but you were too busy having a stroke to listen to anything I was saying."

Danny almost tasted the exhaust from the bus Steve had just thrown him under. "Thanks, buddy, for putting my anxiety issues on the table," he sighed, dropping his napkin beside his plate, appetite suddenly waning. He'd really been looking forward to that steak and potato, too. 

"What happened in the car?" Mark asked.

Before Steve could speak, hopefully to clean up the tea he'd spilled on Danny's mood while on the way over, Rachel answered for him. "Danny's consternation about meeting you is all, Mark."

"I did not, I did not have 'consternation' about meeting you," Danny's fingers quoted the air around him. "I was just a little curious, you know. Rachel told me about you, said that you wanted to meet us because we work with Five-0 and you're running for a position that will also make you our boss, and then on the other hand, you're dating my ex-wife and we have kids together and that would be enough trying to figure out how you are with them, but then you add on the fact that you've chosen a profession which daily - _daily_ \- makes my life harder, especially in recent months," he tossed a glare in Steve's direction, "and that will have consequences on my kids, and how they're raised, and what they're exposed to - the media, the attention, one of your opponents' crazy supporters - so yea, I have some worries, just a few, which is totally and completely normal in this situation." And Danny didn't care that his voice lifted at the end of his rant into a range that the most trained of tenors would be jealous of; he'd spoken his peace and that was all that mattered, high pitched anxiety aside.

"Wow," Mark coughed behind a hand, taking it all in.

"Feel better now?" Steve asked wryly.

"Yes, thank you," Danny answered primly.

"Steve, would you help me with dessert?" Rachel asked. Steve, the coward, fairly leapt at the opportunity, both he and Rachel vacating the area in under fifteen seconds before Danny could grab hold of him and keep him right where he was. He found himself looking across the table at a bemused, if slightly concerned and hopeful future governor.

"Look," Danny sighed, "yeah, I got some concerns. I wasn't lying before... might've been a little calmer before, but Steve got me wound up. He does that, just so you know, he likes to wind people up, make them crazy. I'm certifiable after ten years of being with him, so if you want to keep your sanity, you may just want to drop out of the race now, because if you win, I promise you, your doctor is going to become very concerned about your stress levels, being our boss and all."

"I’ll take that under advisement,” Mark answered soberly. "You know, I have kids myself. When I first went into politics, my ex-wife wasn't too wild about it. I started out in the state house after I got out of the service, and that didn't bring too much publicity with it. I went to work, continued my Reserve training at Pearl-Hickam, cast some votes and went home. It was when I ran for Congress the first time that she really had any serious opposition to it."

"That why you divorced?" Danny asked pointedly.

"That had a lot to do with it, but mostly it was because I was always in D.C. I was rarely home. She felt neglected, alone, managing the house, her job, and the kids for a lot of the year by herself." He shrugged her shoulders. "She started seeing someone else after I won my first re-election and by the end of my second term, we were living separately." He laughed, a light, non-malicious chuckle. "She was kind enough to file for divorce after I won re-election the third time. We kept it out of the press, for the kids' sake."

Danny shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "You sound like you put a lot of stock in this politics stuff."

"I did, still do, I guess," the other man admitted. "When I was married to Maddie, I thought about it all the time. Now... I guess the divorce gave me a wakeup call, about what's important. Not that my kids weren't important to me - they're my world, but I know how to balance my life better." Mark played with the edge of a cloth napkin just within reach. "Came at a pretty steep price, but now I know how to not make the same mistakes again that I made with Madison."

Danny hedged for a few seconds before begrudgingly accepting that answer; it wasn’t as if he hadn't had the same issue, way back when. It was one of the many reasons Rachel left. "How does a guy in special forces get involved in politics anyway?" Danny asked instead. "I mean, that seems a weird mix to me."

"Not so much, actually. The amount of politics that goes into making any decision that people like me and Steve and our buddies have to live with? It's insane, and more often than not pushed by people who have no clue what it is we do or the risks we take or the losses we suffer. That's actually why I got involved," Mark added after a beat. "I lost a lot of friends because of the politics that went into giving me and my guys orders. I thought, 'hey, run for the state house, hey run for Congress, do something about it'."

Danny nodded slowly. "Did it work?"

"A little, yeah," Mark shrugged, doing some shifting himself in his seat, Danny noticed, even though he hadn't smelled a hint of deception from the man since they'd first laid eyes on each other. "Not so much in the state house here, but in Congress I got my name tagged on some good bills, mainly to do with funding and training for our guys. But D.C. is... well, it's Hell on Earth, basically," he laughed. 

"Somehow I don't have any problem believing that," Danny nodded sagely. "That why you're coming back home?"

"That, and a couple of friends of mine from my days early days at the Capital here approached me about running for governor." It was an odd thing, to watch a guy's eyes suddenly turn soft and affectionate while talking about politics or office seeking or literally anything to do with government, but his next words were more than explanation enough for Danny.

"I figure I spent most of my life away from my kids trying to make this world a better place for them, but even in Congress, I couldn't do enough on issues that affected them every day, right in their own backyard, or the backyards of hundreds of thousands of other people," Mark chuckled. "I love this state, you know? There's no other place like it in the world, and I've visited a lot of cities, lots of countries, places nobody's ever heard of before." He looked around at the flush, colorful flora surrounding Rachel's deck and sprawled throughout her backyard, which Danny knew she kept meticulously trimmed and fresh. "None of them come close to this place."

"Yeah, well, I know at least one person who would agree with you there," Danny glanced casually over his shoulder to try to glimpse Rachel and Steve through the window, and caught them in their own, what appeared to be, rather involved conversation. He squinted, his internal radar pinging.

Perhaps the better word was interrogation, since it didn't look like Steve was getting a word in edgewise while Rachel moved her mouth a mile a minute. After briefly considering whether or not he should go inside and intervene, Danny figured Steve could handle himself (and if he and Danny were going to be dating, Steve would have to learn to deal with Rachel for the long term, a prospect which gave Danny no end of amusement), and twisted back around in his seat to look at Mark.

"Okay, well, I guess I get all of that," he cleared his throat, sitting up a little and looking the other man in the eye. "Look, obviously, you and Rachel... I know her well enough to know that you and I wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation if things weren't serious with the two of you. My biggest concern here is my kids, and how your possibly very public life is going to affect them. My daughter, Grace, she's at college now, and as much as I can't believe I'm about to say this because it really would be every father's dream, I don't want a bunch of bodyguard types watching her every move, suffocating her. I want her to have the college experience I had -well," Danny stopped short, reconsidering. "Maybe not _exactly_ the experience I had-"

"Yeah, I wouldn't recommend keg stands at four in the morning myself," Mark scratched behind his ear a bit, a look on his face that told Danny he was clearly remembering doing just that, along with a lot of other stupid stuff college kids tended to do, especially guys. He pointed an agreeable finger at Mark. "Exactly. And Charlie's an outgoing kid with a lot of friends, but he's also really shy and sensitive. He had a... a rough start to life," Danny cleared the guilt from his throat. "You know he was three years old, diagnosed with HLH and he spent a lot of his time in and out of the hospital when he should've been on the playground with other kids. Grace has been through some stuff herself, with me and Rachel divorcing and some other things." Danny swallowed, taking a breath. "I just don't want photographers in their faces, or people using them as political props, or doing anything that’ll make it harder for them to just be kids, or to be safe."

"I get it, Danny," Mark said after a beat, his voice soft and reassuring. "I'm a father, too. I promise you, throughout this campaign and if I make it into office, Grace and Charlie will be as protected from all that as they can be. I can't speak for what other people will do or say, but I promise you, everything within my power to protect them and make sure they have a normal life, I'll do."

Danny took a few moments to consider Mark’s words before offering his hand for Mark to shake, which the latter did to the tune of a lanai door sliding open.

"Looks like we're all getting on," Rachel chirped, a bowl in each hand which Danny could just barely see was dabbed on the top with something white, at least until she sat it down. "Hey, a fruit fool," he grinned, steak and potato forgotten and grabbing for his spoon while Rachel sat down next to him with her own bowl. Steve handed one off to Mark. "Babe, you ever had one of these before?"

"Uh, no," Steve seemed rather skeptical of his own dish, which was white and blue - blueberries, Danny ventured a guess. "But it's fruit and whip cream, so."

"And custard," Rachel pointed her spoon at him, and Danny almost saw Steve make ready to apologize for forgetting, or even not knowing, his eyes crossed and on the spoon as if it were going to attack him. "It's filling and a bit fattening, but all in all quite good."

"Best with strawberries," Danny said around a mouth full of dessert. Rachel rolled her eyes as she daintily dabbed her spoon into the smaller mountain in her bowl. "Yes, because Daniel couldn't bear to have raspberries ever in his custard, and so I had to buy strawberries instead." She slid the spoon in her mouth, raising an elegant eyebrow in Steve's direction. "A little nugget of information for the future."

The radar which had pinged before now sounded like klaxons in Danny's head. "What does that mean?" 

When Steve didn't say anything and instead chose to shovel fatty, sugary dessert into his mouth, his cheeks looking remarkably like a chipmunk's, Danny let his spoon hit the bowl with a clang and sat back, knowing instantly what the topic of conversation had been between Rachel and Steve while they’d been inside.

"You told her?"

Steve, with purpose, once again scooped as much custard and blueberries onto his spoon and into his mouth as he could. Danny glared at the faux apologetic expression Steve was giving him. "You serious right now? You told her without me?"

"Told her what?" Mark asked. 

"I dragged it out of him," Rachel shrugged and pulled the spoon from her lips, this time upside down so that she could get the custard off. Danny’s eye twitched. "You _pulled it out of him_!?" he sputtered. "He's a Navy SEAL, he was in the military! He's fought pirates and terrorists and murderers, and _you_ pulled it out of him!?" His flailing hand flew right into Steve's, which just so happened to be the one holding a spoon filled with cream and fruit, and Danny felt a little badly that it was now decorating the front of Steve's shirt. He managed to stumble into an apology while Steve dabbed at the mess with the napkin he had handy, semi-glaring at Danny while he wiped blue streaks into the tissue.

Rachel took it all in and just looked at him calmly while taking another bite of her dessert.

"Yeah, okay," Danny slumped in his seat, rubbing his hands over his face, indignance draining out of him.

"S'cuse me," Mark raised a hand, looking at Rachel. "What are we talking about here?"

“Steven and Daniel have decided to take their heads out of their arses and realize that they are partners in everything, not just work,” Rachel explained succinctly. Mark blinked.

“Oh.”

“Is that a problem?” Danny practically growled, ignoring the glare of warning Rachel was shooting him. Screw that, if this guy had an issue with Danny and Steve being an item, then Danny wanted to know right now, and deal with it how he saw fit. Rachel might not appreciate him turning her backyard into a grave site, but he’d deal with that afterwards. 

“No, no, not at all,” Mark waved a spooned hand at him, and Danny was thankful that he wouldn’t have to throw out his back digging a six-foot-deep hole. “I just…”

“What?” Steve asked, chipmunk cheeks finally deflated and far more curious than anything else, his spoon hovering in midair – Danny could see his bowl was practically empty.

“Well, just everything kind of makes a little more sense now that I know is all,” Mark stuttered out.

Danny tilted his head. “What makes sense?”

“Oh please, Danny, you know the jokes and rumors that have followed you and Steve around for years now,” Rachel eyed him knowingly, as if daring Danny to deny a word of what she was saying; Danny considered it, just to annoy her. “And we’ve talked enough recently for me to know your thoughts,” she continued. “It’s high time you’ve gotten yourselves together.”

Danny felt a harder than necessary metallic smack on his arm, followed by Steve asking in a rather accusatory tone that Danny didn’t feel was warranted. “You told her?”

“I-“

“You said you hadn’t told her yet!”

“I didn’t, you putz, _you_ did in the kitchen!”

“How’d she even know to ask me?!”

“He told me while you were gone,” Rachel shrugged, an amused expression dancing along her face. Danny couldn’t exactly blame her – this was premium free entertainment she and Mark were getting, free of charge. “I walked in on him painting your house and we had a little chat.”

“A little chat?”

“Yes, about his feelings. For you.” Rachel smiled at Steve. Danny groaned, wanting nothing more than to slide under the table and shimmy back towards the Camaro, sans delicious dessert and his pride.

“Danny.”

“Yes, Steven?”

“…Your ex-wife knowing about this before I did is weird.”

“Oh, it’s weird?” Danny laughed, a little wildly. “It’s weird, he says. Like this whole thing hasn’t been weird from the start?!”

“Well, this has been, uh… informative,” Mark broke in, and that was a good thing, because Danny had almost forgotten he was there. Steve hid his face behind his hands and shook his head with a pained groan while Danny’s eyes rolled up towards the sky, praying for patience. Rachel, with pride and a shrug, scooped another helping of custard onto her spoon and looked at the three men sitting around the table.

“Would anyone like seconds?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied. It's four chapters now :D
> 
> _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-0 and the characters found within the series are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work. Original characters belong to me and bear no likeness or similarities to any one individual_.

“Here’s the last of it,” Danny grunted, setting plates and silverware on the counter next to Rachel, whose hands were currently drowning beneath soapy water. Danny looked between her and the sink before saying dumbly, “you’re washing them?”

“Very good, Danny,” Rachel slipped a plate under the water running from the faucet. “And what am I doing now?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Very funny, I just meant I was surprised you’re not using the dish washer.” He pointed at the neglected washer to Rachel’s right, all smooth, stainless steel and expensive looking. “That thing looks like it cost more than my Camaro, Rache; why not use it?”

“Because it’s only a few dishes and silverware, for one, and for two, because it’s my kitchen and I chose not to.” She flashed a dry smile his way and settled a plate in the strainer, her gaze lingering through the window outside. “They seem to be getting on well enough.”

“Ah, Steve’s like a Labrador retriever – feed him, give him attention, talk about bombs and ammo with him, he’ll slobber all over you.”

“Danny, that’s rather crude. Give him some credit; you and I both know it takes a little more than the ‘boys with toys’ routine for Steven to warm up to anyone.”

“Oh yeah? How would you know? You ever seen him ‘warm up’ to anybody?”

“Yes,” Rachel answered, tone measured. “To me, for one.” She gave him a knowing look. “Especially after Charlie.”

Danny’s head did his little considering-bob routine for a moment or two. “He was never outright dismissive of you, though, or rude.”

“No, no, he wasn’t. I’m sure his upbringing and subsequent Naval career made sure he was never impolite towards a woman for any reason,” Rachel wiped her hands on a dish towel and turned to lean against the counter to look at him. “But I’ve noticed since you and I finally decided to stop torturing ourselves with a reconciliation that was never to be, he’s become… much warmer, lighter. So,” she gestured towards the window where Danny could see just past her that Steve and Mark were still engaged in animated conversation, beers on the table between them. _Probably talking about the many times they had extended days at the Sahara Inn_ , Danny mused to himself.

“That he’s accepted Mark so easily is… telling. Nice, and telling.”

“Probably more for my benefit than yours,” Danny sighed, ambling over to Rachel’s fridge and helping himself to a bottled water. He nodded to her, a silent ask if she wanted anything, but she shook her head. “I think he figures if he acts okay with him that I will, too.”

“And will you?”

Danny shrugged after a few moments. “Seems like a nice enough guy. Never figured you for the military type.”

“I could say the same about you,” Rachel volleyed back easily. “Not to mention other types.”

Danny ducked his head; touché. “Right, well. I don’t know much about politics or campaigns, but I do know this: the press have got this crazy idea in their heads that they’re entitled to know everything about the candidates and their families.” He watched her coolly. “I know how you are about privacy, Rachel. You don’t like anyone sticking their nose in your business, but that’s all the press does these days. Okay, you’re gonna come home, and the roses and begonias in your garden are gonna be hiding people, people who have hands that are holding cameras that take pictures and pry into every corner of your life, okay, and not just your life, but Grace’s and Charlie’s lives, too.” Danny let that hang in the air, watching as his words sank into his ex-wife’s psyche. “Are you ready for that?” He asked, softly.

“That has been a prime topic of several conversations, I can assure you,” Rachel turned her brown doe eyes that she’d gifted to Grace on Danny, and Danny really, really hated that even now, after all these years, after everything that had happened between them, that that look still got to him. “The children will be off limits, and we will both make that very clear to anyone who needs to hear it. We’re already working with Charlie’s school and Grace’s university to make sure that they’re left alone. Mark is willing to utilize funds he raises for the campaign to pay for any security should it be needed.”

“Well, I guess he’s got all kinds of friends in that area,” Danny leaned over the counter, pushing his water bottle idly back and forth between his hands.

“He does; they’ve already said they’d be more than happy to assist,” Rachel cleared her throat. “And I assume that Five-0 will also be keeping an ear to the ground to ensure the safety of all the candidates?”

“Uh… yes, and no,” Danny pinned her with a look. “If we catch wind of something, of course we’ll investigate it, Rache, but we’re not anyone’s personal security team. We have a whole state to watch out for, not to mention we investigate some of the worst crimes out there-“

“Yes, Danny, I know that, all I meant was that _if_ something were to come across your radar-“

“-not to mention, were you going to talk to me about any of this?” Danny watched as the sudden change in subject spelled confusion all over Rachel’s face. “The kids? Making sure they’re okay, keeping the press out of their faces, all that good stuff?” He could feel his face pinch just that little bit. “Come on, Rachel,” he pleaded with her after a few moments. “You didn’t tell me Gracie got a car a few years ago, you don’t tell me you’re dating a new guy with a very public profile, you’re not including me in on this stuff about keeping Grace and Charlie safe… why do I always have to beg you for information on what’s going on in my kids’ lives, huh?”

“I…” Danny saw the moment the fight went out of her. Whether it was because she just didn’t have it in her, or because Mark was right outside, and she didn’t want to get into an argument with him and Steve near by Danny didn’t know. “Yes,” she murmured. “It’s not… it wasn’t intentional – it wasn’t, Danny,” she insisted at Danny’s eyes narrowing just enough to be noticed. “These are… these are discussions that come up when Mark has meetings with his consultants and his campaign staff, and then he comes home and tells me, and we talk about it.”

“Okay, that’s okay,” Danny stood up, slipping his hands into his pockets as he looked at her. “That’s fine, Rache. But you know there’s nothing in the world more important to me than Grace and Charlie. I want to make sure they’re safe, that they’re going to be okay with all of this, that they understand what life’s gonna be like for them next year. And I need to know what that looks like too, Rachel; I need to be in on these conversations.”

What would’ve turned into a knock down, drag out fight a few years ago ended with Rachel nodding her head and flashing a smile his way. “Alright. You will be, I promise. I’ll… be better about that.”

“Okay. Alright, good,” Danny dragged his hands back out to clap and rub against each other. “Also… Mark comes ‘home’, huh?” He’d be a liar if he didn’t partially enjoy the eyeroll Rachel gave him. “You know, you never really said how long you’ve seeing this guy.”

“A little over six months,” Rachel lifted her chin. “And yes, it’s serious.”

“Well, obviously, he bought you that fancy looking watch and everything,” Danny joked, dodging a dish towel Rachel tossed his way. “How serious?” he asked, bending down to pick up the towel and drop it on the food prep counter.

“How serious are you and Steve?” Rachel shot back.

“How does that even count? We’ve been seeing each other, dating, going steady, whatever it is you want to call it, we’ve been doing it for about a week. I don’t even know if we’re doing it right-“

Rachel raised an eyebrow. Danny back peddled. “Okay, _no_ , not like that, I mean we haven’t – we’re not like _that_ , not yet. We’ve slept in the same bed once and that was our last night on vacation, and we didn’t even do anything – what, what’s so funny?” Danny stared at Rachel, who wasn’t doing a very good job smothering the giggles behind her hand. “What’s so funny? Why’re you laughing?”

“Because you’re saying this all with a straight face, as if you haven’t been joined at the hip with the man for the last ten years of your life, suffering all kinds of commentary on your relationship and outright being asked several times if you two are actually married!” Rachel caught her breath, hand over her heart, a grin on her laugh-reddened face.

“Not the point,” Danny mumbled, and Rachel took a little pity on him. “I am happy for you, Danny. A little surprised at this turn of, uh… well, events, attraction, taste, however you term it.”

Danny scrubbed at his face, taking a look out the window again at Mark and Steve, still talking animatedly with one another, which halfway worried Danny because two former special operators conversating non-stop with each other? For all Danny knew, they could be discussing new and modern ways to ‘efficiently’ solve cases, which would no doubt only lead to more explosions and death defying stunts by one Steven J. McGarrett, and a subsequent increase in Danny’s blood pressure.

“Yeah, well, you know,” Danny flapped a helpless hand at the window. “When you know, you know; you know?”

Rachel gave an agreeable hum, looking out the window at her own beau. “I do indeed.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-0 and the characters found within the series are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work. Original characters belong to me and bear no likeness or similarities to any one individual_.
> 
> A whole chapter of Steve and Danny sweetness.

**Hawaii Five-0**

“So, overall, I think that went pretty good. Mark seems like a genuinely decent guy,” Steve followed Danny to the chairs out back, a Longboard in either hand and offered Danny his bottle before settling into his own chair, kicking a foot up on a knee, and taking a long pull from the Longboard before resting his head against the back of the chair. “You think it went okay?”

“Yeah, I mean, as good as it could’ve gone, I guess,” Danny shrugged, rolling his beer bottle between his hands as he looked off into the ocean’s horizon. Steve frowned, taking another drink and mulled the waves quietly with his partner for a few minutes.

“You upset I told Rachel about us?” He asked, letting his gaze fall on the profile of Danny’s face. His partner didn’t look upset or angry… more contemplative than anything else if Steve had to guess. He was glad when Danny shook his head and finally took a sip of the beer.

"No, not really. I mean, we're gonna tell people eventually. S'not like we're gonna hide it forever," Danny shrugged. Steve watched the fake nonchalance roll right off his partner's shoulder; he sighed and leaned towards him a bit. "Danny, if you have a problem with it, just tell me-"

"I don't have a problem with it, Steve, I don't. I swear," Danny looked at him. "Was I expecting her to find out like that? No, but I don't really care one way or the other."

"So then what's the problem?"

Danny huffed. "Why's it a problem? Why does it have to be a problem?"

"It doesn't have to be a problem, but you're clearly irked about something!"

"I'm not irked about anything!" Danny's arms swung wide, his beer almost smacking the side of Steve's face before the latter managed to pull back an avoid the human windmill that was his partner's limbs. "It's real, is all. It's real now, to other people, it's out there."

Steve froze; a chill cut through his heart, raced down his back. His tongue felt big and uncomfortable in his mouth and he had to swallow down a rare feeling of anxiety that threatened to overwhelm him. He fought to keep his voice steady as he asked, "What do you mean?"

Not steady enough. Danny must've heard something, sensed something in the air because he turned to look at Steve so quickly that Steve knew he must've pinched a muscle in his neck somewhere. Confusion, concern, and finally, fond exasperation swam over Danny's face. "You goof," Danny said softly, "I meant we're not the only ones who know now. It's not just ours anymore, you know?"

Steve's face scrunched a bit, the roar of the waves slapping against the coast competing with the rush of his panicked heart that beat loudly in his ears; the waves begun to win out as he took in Danny's expression, the assurance in his eyes. "And that's... bad?"

"No, not necessarily," Danny tipped some more beer in his mouth. "I've always had a sweet spot for the very beginning of a relationship, you know? When it's just the two of you, no one knows, it's just yours. Something you can experience with only one other person in the world, and it doesn't belong to anyone else. You don’t have to worry about anybody else’s opinions or judgements because you are the only two people who matter in the world. You know what I'm talking about?"

Steve looked back at him blankly. "Uh."

"Of course you wouldn't," Danny rolled his eyes in a long suffering kind of way, but that was good; long suffering Danny relaxed Steve. Odd as that may sound to anyone else. "You and Catherine had a Top Secret clearance required for anyone to have even an idea of your relationship status. I guess that's why it threw me that you told Rachel-"

"I didn't tell her, she-"

"-dragged it out of you, yeah, so you said," Danny smirked. Steve felt weirdly defensive about that reaction.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Steve grumbled. "You were married to her."

"Yes I was, thank you for reminding me, but the point is, you were always so tight lipped about you and Catherine and what you two were doing, whether you were dating or serious or whatever. I couldn't ever get you to admit anything about how serious things were between you two, not counting the time you told me you were going to ask her to marry you. So, when Rachel said that you'd already told her, it... I don't know, it felt good." Danny set his beer on the table and crossed one leg over the other, quietly assessing Steve, Steve doing the same to him.

"Why?" Steve asked after a few quiet moments.

Danny gave a heavy sigh, his shoulders rising and falling with the gusty force of it. “I guess because I was maybe worried that you'd want to hide this, hide _us_. Not because we're two guys, but just because that's how you've been with other relationships you've had."

Steve mulled that over, drumming his fingers against the bottle in his hands, clutched in between his legs. It wasn't entirely unreasonable what Danny was saying. Neither he nor Catherine had ever truly been open about their relationship with anyone, always going to ridiculous lengths to say it was less than what it had been to their friends, even to themselves. When Steve was dating Lynn, he hardly even brought her around the team, or around Danny, and while he hadn't exactly been trying to hide her from anyone, he wasn't keeping her to himself because of that 'new relationship' period either, especially after dating for three years.

He took a breath and set his beer down on the table next to Danny's before standing up and shuffling through the sand towards his partner.

"What." Danny looked up at him and blinked when Steve held out a hand. "What, what do you want?"

"I'm - what do you think I want, Danny? I'm holding out my hand, would you take it and stand up, please?"

"For what? I’m comfortable,” Danny groused, but none the less, took the offered hand and got to his feet, surprised when Steve wrapped his arms loosely around his waist. It must've shown on his face, because Steve quirked an eyebrow. “What?”

"I'm just wondering what you're up to is all," Danny rested his hands on either side of Steve's hips and leaned back a bit, the better to see his gigantic partner's face by.

"What am I up to? I'm trying to be romantic with you, that's what I'm up to."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Steve shrugged. "I mean, I figure I've got to convince you that I don't want to hide us, or keep people guessing about us, the whole ‘are they, aren’t they’ game."

"Ahhh, okay, I gotchya," Danny laughed. "So how do you plan to do that? I’m pretty sure people have been playing that game about us for a while."

“Chin told me that Kono put bets on us at one point,” Steve swayed gently from left to right, taking Danny with him. Their relationship had always been so easily physical and had only gotten more so since their trip to Kailua and their decision to come clean with each other and make a real go of things. It was a welcome discovery and development, for Steve especially, knowing that he never had to ask permission to be affectionate with Danny, that he never had to wonder if he’d be rebuffed. "I figure we tell Grace and Charlie first."

"Fair," Danny nodded.

"Then, after we tell them, we tell the team, preferably before I go back to work." Steve looked down at him. "Gotta give them time to decide if they're going to be okay, me being back, us working together and... you know, being together, too."

"Hey, have you met Junior Reigns and Tani Rey? Because I think they're partnered up and dating each other too," Danny snarked, rocking from side to side along with Steve.

"Yeah, but they're not running Five-0; I am," Steve pointed out astutely. "That matters, Danno, you know that." 

“Look at you, worried about conflict of interest,” Danny poked at him. "You never worried about it with Catherine before, or really with anybody else."

"You're not Catherine, and we're not 'anybody else'," Steve said pointedly. His tone must've stirred something in Danny, because his partner was looking at him now with consideration, almost assessing him in a way he hadn't before. "I made lots of mistakes with Catherine," Steve confessed softly. "I already told you I'm not going to make them again. One of those was not being honest about what she meant to me with the people in my life, including you... Hell, including _her._ The other was acting like we were just buddies once she joined the team, like there wasn't anything there. Maybe that's just because that's how we were, maybe it's because we both knew it would give someone who wanted to hurt us leverage, but either way, it probably wore us down even more."

"So, what, now you want to scream it from the rooftops that we're together?" Danny asked, because he could definitely remember a conversation on a kitchen island in a little house on a rocky beach in Kailua where they'd both agreed that subtlety was the best move here. “Because I know Hawaii’s the smallest state and everything, but that’s still over a million people you gotta reach.”

"Rhode Island is actually the smallest state, and no, not from the rooftops, the whole island doesn't need to know, and we already agreed that we'd tell the team," Steve pointed out, working himself up a bit, because this was important; it was important that Danny got this. "It's just that this time, maybe if I want to have lunch with just you, I won't make up some lame excuse, or when we're having drinks at Tropics, maybe I'll hold your hand or put my arm around you, sit closer to you, and not stop myself because of whatever hang ups I've had in the past."

"Okay, alright, Superman, just calm down before you hyperventilate," Danny slid a hand up Steve's t-shirt and patted his chest gently, just over his heart before resting it there. "I get it. I actually appreciate what you're saying very much; thank you."

Steve blinked. "You're welcome," he cleared his throat. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about going back to work until today. I really did plan to tell you on the way over to Rachel’s, but I wasn’t sure if I’d have to interrupt myself to call EMS for you with-“

“Really? We’re going there again?”

“Danny, you were turning red in the car the closer we got to her house.”

“It was hot,” Danny sniffed.

“The air conditioning was on, it was, like, sixty-eight degrees in the car, Danny.”

“Maybe switch that number around to eighty-six and I’ll believe you,” Danny muttered. “Anyway, whatever, it doesn’t matter. As long as you’re ready to come back, Steve, that’s all that matters. I don’t want you to feel like you have to go back to Five-0 because you think we need the help or because you feel guilty about not being around or any of that.” He squinted his eyes a bit, crows feet deepening at the corners of his blue eyes. Steve loved those little lines, loved how each one told a story of Danny’s life; so many of them he knew, but there were more than enough to explore there to keep him busy for, well, for a very, very long time.

“I’m not coming back because of either of those reasons. I’m coming back because I want to, because I want to be at work with you, having your back, just like you have mine; because what we do is important and saves lives, and let’s face it – recruitment for police these days is less than stellar thanks to the bad press the profession has gotten.”

“Yeah, HPD’s academy class is about a third the size of its last one,” Danny sighed. “I tell you Duke was thinking of retiring?” He nodded at Steve’s stunned look. “He’s put in thirty years. Seen a lot, done a lot. With the way things are getting, he and Nalani had a talk and they both think it’s probably the right time to retire.”

Steve nodded slowly. “He put his papers in yet?”

“Nah, not yet. They’ve had a lot of people pension out recently, or just quit to find a new line of work. He wants to stay on for the rest of the year I think, to help with recruitment and all that.”

“Can’t replace a Duke,” Steve sighed heavily, thinking of the man who had come to be a mentor in many ways to Steve, to the younger members of Five-0, too.

“We all gotta cross that bridge someday, babe,” Danny pulled back a little to look up at Steve better, to meet his gaze. “I passed my twenty years a few years ago. You got twenty in the Navy plus ten with the state. Maybe we start thinking about training up the kids to take over in a few years?”

“That was going to be the other thing I talk to you about,” Steve admitted, stepping back and dropping his arms, but leaving one hand in Danny’s, not willing to completely sever the connection just yet. “About maybe letting them take over the action a bit more, maybe you, me, and Lou, we stay back on the smaller cases, let them take the lead?”

Danny considered that and Steve quietly for a few moments, watching their hands dangle easily between them. “You ready for that?” He asked. “Ready to go back to work, but dial it down? Not try to leap tall buildings in a single bound or be the first one through the door every raid?”

“Well, I figure I’ll have you there to hold me back,” Steve shrugged off-handedly. “One thing I figured out while I was gone was I don’t want to put my personal life in the back seat anymore. I got it into my head for a while that I was just the job; that’s what I’d always been, that’s what I was always gonna be, that’s how I was gonna die. But that was more me just refusing to make that a priority in my life, maybe not believing that I could have that. So-“

“So you’ll just put me in charge of making it a priority for you,” Danny grinned.

“Well… no, not in charge but…” Steve looked down at their hands, fingers intertwined, his tanned skin a contrast against Danny’s lighter color, though not by much. Strong hands that had supported each other, caught one man when the other fell, that had meted out death and punishment and justice and had helped a hundred times more people than either had ever thought possible. Solid, sturdy, present. “The reason,” Steve finally settled on, brushing a thumb over Danny’s knuckles, and he knew that the subtle flush of red on Danny’s face had nothing to do with the bright, Hawaiian sun.

“You are _very_ romantic right now,” Danny managed, clearing his throat.

“I try,” Steve smiled softly. “You staying the night? I got steaks.”

Danny dropped his head. “…aaaaand the romance is gone.”

Steve blinked. “Huh?”

Danny pulled his hand from Steve’s to flap it against his partner’s chest indignantly, in disbelief (but not really, because _Steve_ ) that he had to explain this. “You say all that stuff about me being the reason you want to settle down and have a less psychotic life and I tell you how romantic that is – I mean, with full on lumps in my throat, babe, - and then you say, ‘ _I got steaks_ ’? As if that’s what’s supposed to entice me to stick around?!”

Steve managed to swerve past the word ‘entice’ to state, very clearly, and with feeling: “I asked you if you wanted to stay the night first!”

“Oh, because that’s so much better,” Danny shook his head as he made his way back towards the house. “You’re such a caveman, I swear.”

“I am not!” Steve followed after him, hands in his pockets. To be honest, the view in front of him was one to admire, even while Danny ranted and raved as he tracked across the grass.

“You just made an offering of meat to me, Steven. You may as well have just full on grunted and started making a fire. Putz.”

“Hey, if fires are your thing, I got some sticks and plenty of sand to wheedle a pit out of. We can do that,” Steve was grinning as Danny stopped abruptly and turned to look at him in amazement. “You’re unbelievable,” Danny shook his head wondrously as Steve ambled up to him, a pleased expression on his face. “You-“

Whatever colorful adjective Steve was, was cut off by Steve pressing a firm kiss to Danny’s lips, silencing any further complaints. Steve was getting better at this, showing affection, swooping in, just giving rather than waiting for permission to give, or take sometimes. He pulled back just a bit, enough so that when he spoke, his lips still brushed against Danny’s, his voice as soft as a whisper.

“The last time we slept in the same bed was in Kailua. You’ve had work and the kids since then, and our calendars just haven’t synced up. So, I’d really like for you to stay the night with me,” Steve murmured. “We don’t have to do anything. I just want you here.”

“You know, that’s what I used to tell my girlfriends back in college to get them to stay the night, hoping that we could do _things_.”

Steve pouting would never not get old. “Danno…”

“No, no whining, and no pouting, do not do that,” Dann pulled back a bit, pointing at him. “That’s not playing fair.”

Steve pouted more. “ _Now_ who’s killing the romance?”

“Oh for,” Danny was definitely going to have to build up his defenses against those sulky looks of Steve’s if he was to have any hope for even the slightest bit of autonomy in this relationship. “Fine, yes. I will stay the night. Happy?”

Steve’s grin was bright and goofy. “Yep.”

“Good. Fine. I’m hungry; feed me.” Danny looked up at Steve, an expectant look on his face, and Steve was all to happy to oblige. Danny was staying. That was all that mattered, and to tell the truth, Danny was happy about it.

Happier now that Steve was walking ahead of him and going towards the kitchen, a ‘yes, Danno’ tossed over his shoulder, the note of ‘follow me’ suggested in his tone.

And Danny did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, already working on the next installment! That'll probably take some time, so there will be some one shots in my future, starting with a Christmas one, because of course.
> 
> I love Christmas.
> 
> I love McDanno.
> 
> The two must be fused together as one.
> 
> Thanks for reading, stay safe, mask up, and have a great Christmas season!

**Author's Note:**

> I've written this out mostly, but I don't know how many chapters it will be. Originally, it was going to be a one shot, but the dang thing got so long, I want to break it up a bit. So! As soon as I know, you'll know :D


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